8 Best Dowdy Nightgowns

By A Mystery Man Writer

The best dowdy nightgowns from Victorian Trading Co., Lanz of Salzburg, Sears, Celestine, Priamo, and P-Jamas.
I clocked Simpkins’s purple gown as a Celestine right away. We’re both enthusiasts of the German-made line’s delicate, long-form gowns and baby-dolls, which recall the vintage nighties I bummed off my Gaga and which Neiman-Marcus is kind enough to occasionally put on sale.
Fine frippery made in India from organic cotton — featuring details like cutwork embroidery, netting, lace, and French seams. The “English Garden” print is just optional. Clinch (and cinch) it with one of their peignoirs.
This one’s U.S.A.-made, and the semi-see-through gauze cotton is cut from the same whispery stuff you see drying on the line in period dramas.
The flared collar, sleeves, and hemline, plus the rosettes on the smocking on this one got me. I can confirm that it also dyes beautifully with indigo.
If I didn’t live abroad and still had a Prime account, this would be a done deal. Martha here ticks many boxes: she’s long of sleeve, ankle-length, rosy, ruffly, ribboned, white-worked, and smocked.
This housecoat in a ’70s can-do dishtowel stripe — it’d be a daytime option for when I’m scrubbing and tidying my apartment.